Armor - Ephesians 6:12-18

The Bible makes it very clear that there is an enemy of our souls called Satan. In the last chapter of Ephesians, we discover that Paul is telling the believer how to overcome Satan. We live in an evil day. Paul tells us over in Ephesians 5, redeeming the time because the days are evil. Now the Lord Jesus Christ fought Satan when he first began his ministry after his baptism. Satan met the Lord Jesus there in the wilderness and three times attempted to get the Lord Jesus out of the will of God.

Now Satan is anxious to control the lives of Christians. Though he cannot take them to hell, because if they are saved, they truly belong eternally to Jesus Christ. Though he cannot take them to hell, yet he can so ruin their lives that they will send other people to hell. Many Christians who think that they are filled with the spirit are fooled by the spirits. For Satan is a strong adversary and he has under his control a great army of spiritual beings, Ephesians 6:12, principalities, powers, the rulers of the darkness of this world against spiritual wickedness in heavenly places. Now the believer is seated with Jesus Christ in the heavenlies. All of our blessings are in the heavenlies. But Ephesians 6:12 makes it clear that Satan seeks to fight against us.

Now if we're going to defeat the devil, we have to have two things. We must have armor for protection and we must have weapons for offense. That is we need a defensive and an offensive spiritual equipment. Paul describes here in Ephesians 6, the different parts of the spiritual armor. We noticed these in our last lesson. Let's look at them again. Ephesians 6:14, stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth.

Now as we've mentioned before, the loins are the fulcrum of the body. A man is not going to be able to run or walk or fight if he has something wrong with that area of his anatomy. Now spiritually speaking, the loins are to be girt about with truth. Satan is a liar. Over in John 8, Jesus made it very clear that he is a liar and the father of liars and the father of the lie. From the very beginning, Satan said, "Yea, hath God said?" He questions the word of God. Now the truth that we have, of course, is the truth of the word of God. Jesus said in John 17, "Sanctify them through thy truth, thy word is truth." So if the word of God, if the truth of God is controlling my life, Satan cannot get at me with his lies.

The loins girt about with truth. Having on the breastplate of righteousness. Now Satan is the accuser of the brethren. He loves to accuse us to God, Revelation 12:10. He is the one who accuses us of the things that we have done. Now sometimes we like to excuse ourselves and we get along with this for a while, but after a while the Holy Spirit catches up with us. The Holy Spirit convicts, but Satan accuses. The Holy Spirit convicts us to bring us closer to Christ. The devil accuses to drive us away from Christ. Now the righteousness that is mentioned here in Ephesians 6:14, this breastplate of righteousness that covers the heart, is not the righteousness that I receive by faith in Jesus Christ. Rather it is the righteousness of an obedient life. It is daily obeying what God has to say. Then Satan cannot accuse me. The righteousness of God as the breastplate.

In Ephesians 6:15, your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Now it's the gospel of peace. Peace between man and God and peace between man and each other. When the gospel comes into a broken home, there's peace. When the gospel comes into a broken life, there's peace. Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus. Now the devil doesn't want us to have peace. He is a destroyer. He loves to bring discord. There was peace in this universe until Satan revolted against God and brought discord. There was peace in the human race until Satan brought sin to Adam and Eve. Peace. This is the great need today.

Now we have our feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. The gospel of Jesus Christ is that where on we stand. Back in 1 Corinthians 15, the Apostle Paul tells us about the gospel and he says this, "Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel, which I preached unto you, which also ye have received and wherein ye stand." Take your stand on the gospel. Now if I'm wearing the shoes of the gospel of peace, I'm not going to be causing war. Back in Proverbs, you'll recall that the writer tells us that among the seven things that God hates is someone who spreads discord, who sows discord among the brethren. Now where there's pure wisdom, there's also going to be peace. James tells us this, "The wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable." Easy to be entreated, full of good works. Christians who are wearing the gospel of peace are not going to be peace breakers, they are going to be peace makers. Blessed are the peacemakers is what the Lord Jesus told us.

Now to wear the shoes of the gospel means that everywhere I go, I'm witnessing for Christ. Oh, you say, is that possible? Yes, it is possible and it's necessary. If there's someplace I go that I can't wear the gospel shoes, I better not go there. If where I am taking the gospel is a place where I ought not to be, then I shouldn't go there. Now perhaps you can go to some of these worldly places of amusement and take the gospel with you. I have a sneaking suspicion that most Christians leave their shoes outside when they go to these places because they're ashamed to take the gospel in there.

Ephesians 6:16, above all, that means over all the rest of this armor, above all, taking the shield of faith. Now faith is what gives us the victory. Satan is the author of doubt and unbelief. God never causes people to doubt. God always gives people reason to believe. There hath not failed one word of his good promise. Now you can see what he's talking about here. The shield of faith wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. Satan sends fiery darts into our minds, into our lives. Unbelief, doubt. "Yea, hath God said? If thou be the son of God, why are you hungry? Turn these stones into bread." Has Satan ever cast his fiery darts of doubt at your heart? Well, the only way to conquer them, the only way to be protected is by wearing the shield of faith. This doesn't mean the faith that saves us, it means faith in his word and faith in his promises every hour of the day. It's what Paul meant when he said we walk by faith and not by sight. The shield of faith.

Now Ephesians 6:17, and take the helmet of salvation. Now this is for the mind. You put the helmet on your head and it's for the mind. If you'll turn back to 1 Thessalonians 5, you'll find the Apostle Paul has another thing to say about the helmet. Talking about the return of our Lord Jesus in 1 Thessalonians 5:6, "Therefore let us not sleep as do others, but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep, sleep in the night. And they that be drunken are drunken in the night. But let us who are of the day be sober." That means calm and collected, serious. "Putting on the breastplate of faith and love and for an helmet the hope of salvation." Now Ephesians 6 says the helmet of salvation, 1 Thessalonians 5:8 says the hope of salvation. These two things go together. If the helmet of salvation is on your head by faith, then your mind is going to be controlled by the Spirit of God. You are going to be spiritually minded and not carnally minded.

Now the hope of salvation means the second coming of Jesus Christ. "Lift up your heads for your redemption draweth nigh." Now whenever a Christian starts saying, "Well, the Lord Jesus can't come back today." He has put off the helmet of salvation. That servant says in his heart, "My Lord delayeth his coming." And then he starts to live a wicked, carnal, worldly life. If you lose the power of this blessed hope, "And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself even as he is pure." Now the helmet of salvation or the helmet of the hope of salvation controls the mind. And we think thoughts after God and God speaks to us in our minds. We are spiritually minded because we wear the helmet of salvation.

And the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying always. Now in Ephesians 6:17-18, we have the two offensive weapons of the Christian. The sword of the Spirit, the word of God, and prayer. Prayer and the word of God always go together. Don't separate them. Back in Acts 6, the apostles said, "But we will give ourselves continually to prayer and the ministry of the word." You can't separate them. The word of God defeats Satan and prayer gives us the power to use the word of God.

Now a Christian who spends all of his time studying the Bible but doesn't do any praying has light but no heat. And the Christian who spends all of his time praying but never opens his Bible has heat but no light. We must have zeal with knowledge. And the word of God and prayer always go together, always, not sometime, always. You can't separate these two. The more we read the word of God, the more we have to pray that God will fulfill his word in us. And the more we pray for ourselves and for others, the more we are sent to the word of God to find the answers and the help that we need to serve the Lord.

Now the word of God here is compared to a sword. The sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. We fight with spiritual weapons. In 2 Corinthians 10:4, Paul tells us very clearly that the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, they are not fleshly. We do not fight our weapons, we do not use fleshly weapons to fight our battles. We use the word of God and we use prayer. Over in Hebrews 4:12, we are told that the word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. The word of God pierces people's hearts. You remember when Stephen was witnessing there in Acts 7 before those men who hated him. And when he had finished his sermon, it says they were cut to the heart.

Have you ever been cut by the word of God? Have you listened to a lesson or a sermon or a message and God has cut your heart? You be thankful for it. Because before the word of God can heal us, it must cut us. It's a two-edged sword. And as a two-edged sword, it pierces deep within the heart. Many people don't want to go to Bible preaching churches because it makes them uncomfortable. They like to have preachers who tickle their ears, who entertain them. A friend of mine told me that she and her husband had attended a church in New York City and the theme for the message that morning, the sermon that morning was the trees of New York. I don't want to go to church to hear about trees or politics. I want to go to hear the word of God.

Now the word of God is a sword. It's a living sword. Other swords become more and more dull as you use them. The word of God becomes sharper and sharper. The human sword is held by a human hand. The word of God as a sword is held by the Holy Spirit. You recall when Joshua was about to take the city of Jericho, he went out one night to pray and he saw a man standing with a sword drawn. It was the Lord Jesus Christ. You see when you and I go out to witness for the Lord or to serve the Lord, we don't go in our own strength. We take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

Now we have to use this sword on the devil. This is the only weapon that will defeat the devil. You can't argue with the devil, that'll just get you into trouble. Just take the sword of the Spirit. When the Lord Jesus Christ met the devil in the wilderness there in Matthew 4 and Luke 4, every time the devil came up with a temptation, Jesus said, "It is written."

Now the more scripture you memorize, the bigger your sword is going to be. Some of you folks who are listening to me are trying to fight the devil with a pen knife, with a boy scout knife. You don't have enough of the word of God at your command to be able to fight Satan and know what he's doing. The strategy of the devil. The more of the word of God you learn and memorize and practice, the bigger your sword becomes. And the more you use it, the sharper it becomes.

Now when a physical sword fights the physical body, it leaves behind wounds and bloodshed and death. But when the spiritual sword enters into the soul, ah, it performs spiritual surgery. And our great captain of our salvation can use this sword in our lives too. It's not as though we use the word of God only against the devil. Sometimes God has to use the sword of the Spirit on us. If your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. Now did Jesus literally mean we should cut off our right hand if it caused us to stumble? No. He's speaking in figurative language. He says anything in your life that's causing you to sin, that's making you a weak Christian, cut it out. How do you cut it out? With the sword of the Spirit. When we obey the word of God and believe it, then the word of God goes to work in our lives and in the lives of others.

The sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit. Now the Holy Spirit of God wants us to pray. The Holy Spirit of God prays in us according to Romans 8 with groanings that cannot be uttered. Did you notice it says in Ephesians 6:18, praying always? Paul said over in 1 Thessalonians 5:17, pray without ceasing. That doesn't mean we go around mumbling our prayers. But the very desires of our hearts, the yearning of our hearts become prayers. The Holy Spirit of God knows what's in our hearts. He knows the desires of our hearts. And even while we're working or driving or even sleeping, the Spirit of God is at work interceding for us with groanings that cannot be uttered. Praying always.

Now prayer is the powerhouse of the Christian life. My friend Peter Deyneka, who is a great Russian evangelist ministering now in this country, has been for a number of years, used to say, "Much prayer, much power. Little prayer, little power. No prayer, no power." Praying always with all prayer and supplications in the Spirit. Now not praying in the flesh. Ye have not because ye ask not. And because ye ask amiss that you may consume it upon your own lusts. Be careful of selfish praying. The Holy Spirit of God wants to help us in our praying. And if you are on your knees praying about something and you just don't know how to pray, just turn yourself over to the Spirit. Just say, "Holy Spirit of God, pray in me and pray through me." And he'll give you the power that you need.

And watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints. All prayer for all saints with all perseverance. All is a little word that demands a great deal from us. All saints. Do we pray for all people, all of God's people? Oh, we pray for our own church, our own pastor. Do we pray for other churches? Evangelists, pastors. Do you have a prayer list? If someone were to stop you tomorrow and say, "For whom are you praying?" Would you know? Can you say, "I'm praying for this one or that one." Has there been answered prayer in your life because you have been praying definitely about definite things in definite people's lives? I hope so. This is the great blessing of the Christian life to pray and to see God answer.

Now notice he says we should watch and pray. Pray with your eyes open. This is God's secret for overcoming. Watch and pray. He said to the Apostle Peter in the garden, "Watch and pray, the spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak." Watch and praying with your eyes open. Watching to see how Satan is working. Watching to see where God is moving. Intelligent praying. You know, much praying is not intelligent. It's routine. There are many people who have one or two pet prayers that they can pray through and then they're done for. Paul is talking here about real praying. Praying in the Spirit. Praying with the word of God as the sword in our hands. And watching as we pray.

Now he uses the word supplication here twice. Praying always with all prayer and supplication. And watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints. Not just mumbling words, not just making a speech, but really praying from the heart. Oh, to have people who believe in supplication. To have those who honestly, sincerely believe in laying hold of God and wrestling with God. I realize that prayer is not overcoming God's reluctance, it's laying hold of God's willingness. But you know when you really get to praying, it costs. Prayer works and prayer leads to work and prayer is work.

I trust that you are in the habit of watching and praying and of using the word of God to overcome the wicked one as he seeks to ruin your testimony. Shall we pray just now in closing? We thank thee our Father for thy word. We thank thee it's the sword of the Spirit that overcomes the power of the devil. We thank thee Father for prayer, the privilege and the power of prayer. Seal to our hearts the lesson we have just studied. May Jesus Christ be glorified in our lives as we watch and pray and fight the good fight of faith. In his name. Amen.